Dua Saleh releases “body cast”, a song against police brutality
The new single by Minneapolis-based singer and rapper Dua Saleh, entitled body cast, was written in response to “police brutality and injustice”.
Its cover lists the names of unarmed black people killed by US police in recent years. The track opens and closes with an audio clip from the 2019 video showing a woman named Angela Whitehead standing at her door, trying to stop police from illegally entering her home.
“We demand justice for the family of George Floyd and countless others who have had their lives stolen by the police,” Dua Saleh wrote in an Instagram post.
In an interview, she said she wrote the 2019 song together with producer Psymun while still mourning the deaths of Jamar Clark and Philando Castile, both of whom were murdered by police. The artist wanted to save the track for a future project, but after the killing of George Floyd she wanted to support the people mobilising in her city every day. All the proceeds from the song are going to Women For Political Change, an organisation struggling for equality.